


Nott the Best Detective Agency and the Case of Bren Aldric Ermendrud

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 15:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19948375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: A smelly hobo steps into the office of Nott the Best Detective Agency and with the biggest case Nott and Jester have ever seen.





	Nott the Best Detective Agency and the Case of Bren Aldric Ermendrud

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I wrote this in April during Camp Nanowrimo and wasn't super happy with it, so I ignored it until now. This is my first murder mystery, so it's not the best, but I hope you guys like it.

It was a quiet afternoon at the office of Nott the Best Detective Agency. Technically, it had also been a quiet morning. Really, it had been a quiet week and maybe it had been a month since they last had a client stop by. But that was not going to get Jester down. Even the best detectives, which she and Nott were, had slow years. Though if Jester was being honest, it would be nice to have a case that was more than just finding someone’s missing cat.

The bell over the door jingled as someone opened it. “Halo?” Jester smelled him before she saw him. It was like he had bathed in raw sewage. She held her nose as the scruffy man approached the desk. His hair was filthy and matted and his coat looked like it was older than Jester was.

Nott poked her head up from the couch where she had been napping. “Who is it?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Jester said. “But he’s super stinky and he might be a hobo.”

“He can hear you,” the man said with a thick Zemnian accent.

Nott stared at him for a long moment. "I know you. Not your name but you're the one who's always by the corner of Mercer and Ray. He's the one I told you about, Jes, the one who always makes sure I get here safely on late nights."

"It's nothing. A trade, she always gives me bacon,"the man said.

Jester was disappointed that Nott's shining knight was not more dashing.

“You should really take a shower,” Jester said. “It would help with the smell.”

He sighed. “I was told that you are detectives. I was hoping to hire you.”

“We are detectives. I’m Jester and this is Nott, and together we’re Nott the Best Detective Agency.” Jester wave her hands to emphasize how cool they were.

“And I am Caleb Widogast. I have a murder that needs investigating,” he said with a solemn seriousness.

“A murder?” Nott and Jester said in unison.

Caleb nodded. “Ja. The murder of Bren Aldric Ermendrud.”

Jester pursed her lips. The name almost sounded familiar but Jester couldn’t quite place it. “When was he killed?”

“5 years, 3 months, and 13 days ago,” Caleb said. ”Here.” He pulled out an old clipping from a newspaper.

-Ermendrud Industries CEO Bren Aldric Ermendrud Passed away Age 28-

Which explained why the name was familiar, Ermendrud Industries was a huge company involved in all sorts of, well, industries. The article went on to explain that Bren had passed away of natural causes which was pretty weird since he was so young and it didn’t mention any preexisting conditions.

Nott hovered next to Jester’s elbow and read the article along with her. “But it doesn’t say anything about him being murdered here?”

“Yeah, what makes you think he was murdered?” Jester asked.

Caleb frowned. “I don’t know, I just know that it wasn’t natural.”

“I believe you,” Jester said.

“Why?” Caleb asked. “For all you know, I’m just some crazy person.”

Jester shrugged. “Detective’s intuition I guess. Besides, even if you are crazy, it’s more interesting than just waiting for another missing cat case.”

Nott nodded in agreement.

“I know where my cat is.” He opened his coat a little to let a small cat poke its head out. Indescribable sounds of glee came out of Jester’s mouth. But then the cat drew it’s head back in.

"It's going to be an expensive case," Nott said. "Can you afford it?"

Caleb nodded and pulled out a pile of crumpled bills from his pocket and began to count them out loud. Nott and Jester shared a glance. If he was lucky, he might be able to afford to have them find a cat. There was no way there was enough there for a murder, but they were desperate for cases. And when would they ever get to work on anything this interesting again? Jester nodded to Nott.

"Hmmmm," Nott said. "That might cut it, but you have to understand that we're very busy."

"That's right. We're like super booked," Jester siad.

Caleb's face fell (which was hard since he was so sad looking in the first place). "So you won't take it?"

"Hold on. I didn't say anything like that," Nott said. "What I'm saying is that you need to sweeten the pot."

"Sweeten the pot?" Caleb asked. "This is all I got."

Nott's face had concern written all over. She was the soft one, so Jester had to be the hard one. "We’re not talking money. More like favors."

Caleb nodded grimly. "Understood. And just what kind of favors are we talking about?"

"Oh, I'm sure you know what kind of favors I'm talking about," Jester said suggestively waggling her eyebrows. Caleb's face turned bright red. "You have to help us with the case! You'll be our gopher and reach all the high clues." He wasn't very tall, but he was taller than both Jester and Nott, so he would be useful in that area.

"Ah, ja, I can do that," Caleb said looking relieved.

"Where do you live?" Nott asked.

Caleb shrugged. "None of your business."

"Caleb, are you actually a hobo?" Jester asked leaning in closer. "Is that why you're so smelly?"

He backed away from her. "It, you, it's none of your business," Caleb said firmly.

"Actually, it is. Since you're going to be working with us, you technically represent us," Jester said.

Nott nodded. "That's right. We can't have you dirtying our reputation." They were the best pet finders in all of Zadash.

"So you're going to go to the YMTA," The Young Men's Traveler's Association, "And take a shower." Jester grabbed on of the crumpled dollars and handed it back to Caleb.

Caleb stared at the money. "I can't."

"Are you allergic water?" Jester asked. "Will it kill you?"

"Was? No, I mean I can't take your money," Caleb said.

"It's a gift to the world. You smell really bad."

Nott winced and nodded. "She's got a point there. And here." Nott wrote something down on a scrap of paper and handed it to Caleb. "Ask for Shakaste. There's always a warm place at his church for those who need it."

Caleb took the scrap of paper and nodded. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"After you take a shower," Jester said.

Caleb looked at her with a hard stare. Jester was taken aback by just how bright his blue eyes were. “Ja, after a shower.” And he walked away.

Jester waited a moment after he closed the door to turn to Nott and squeal. “This is our biggest case ever!”

“I know!” Nott was bouncing along with Jester.

“We’re going to do such a good job!”

“The case was practically solved the moment we took it,” Nott said with a smug girn.

“I know!” Jester paused. “So, ummm, do you know anything about this Ermendrud guy?”

Nott frowned. “Not really.”

“Me neither,” Jester said. “But it should be easy to find out about him.”

* * *

There was very little information to be found on Bren Aldric Ermendrud. Jester groaned at the computer and at how little it told her. Apparently Bren had withdrawn from spotlight years before his death. In fact, he had not been seen in public or at the company since the death of his parents. Heck, there weren’t even any pictures of him online. He was completely anonymous despite the fact that he was super rich and his company was super famous. Most of the articles that Jester could find about him were more about his replacement as CEO, Trent Ikithon.

“You find anything Nott?” Jester asked.

“Only that he graduated head of his class from Soltryce Academy.”

Jester sighed. “It shouldn’t be that hard. He doesn’t even have a facebook page.”

“Have you tried Myspace?” Nott asked. “If I were an out of touch secluded millionaire, I’d use Myspace.”

Jester quickly looked for Bren on Myspace only to get nothing. “Nothing and yeah I’ve tried linkedin too.”

“Maybe we don’t need to know anything about him,” Nott suggested.

“Maybe,” Jester said. “Nott, do you trust Caleb?”

Nott looked up from her phone. “Sure, he’s helped me get back to the office after a long day of searching for dogs. He’s very reliable.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Jester said.

Nott looked confused at Jester. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s a weird hobo man that showed up at of nowhere claiming that someone was murdered years ago. That’s not really trustworthy.”

“Do you think we should turn down the case?” Nott asked.

Jester jerked up shaking her head. “No! This is our first real case. It’s not just finding Sprinkle or Nugget. This is serious. It’s just weird, you know.”

“So, we’re taking the case?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s going to be great,” Jester said. She didn’t know how to phrase it out loud, but for some odd reason, she found herself trusting and believing their strange client.

* * *

Nott sat on the desk slowly nursing a hot cup of coffee. It wasn’t a good cup, but it was hot and coffee so Nott took it. Jester had called earlier to let her know that she was running late. It was fairly normal for Jester, so Nott wasn’t worried. Jester was probably so excited about the case that she couldn't fall asleep until late into the night and slept in. A smile came to Nott's lips. The younger of the detectives was easy to find dear.

Finishing her cup of coffee, Nott jumped off of the desk to put it away. There was a noise at the door that drew her attention though. Nott opened it cautiously to find Caleb standing there. "Why are standing out here?"

"You told me to come in at 9."

"Oh, right, come in," Nott said.

Caled gave her an odd look. "But it's only 8:57."

"Then come in early," Nott said holding the door wider.

"Danke," he said entering the office.

They stood there awkwardly in silence for a long moment. Nott always liked Caleb even before she knew his name(though sometimes Nott wondered if she was the one who walked with him and not the other way around when he’d jump at his own shadow sometimes). But that didn’t stop him from being a little weird. "Soooooooooooooooooooo," Nott said. "How did you stumble upon this case? Did you know Bren?"

Caleb shook his head. "No, I knew of him, but I don't think I've ever met the man."

"Then how come you're so interested in finding who killed him?"

"I, it's complicated. It just feels suspicious. There's no notes of how he died except that it was of natural causes. That's suspicious."

"Could've been cancer," Nott said. “Sometimes diseases like that are kept secret from the public.”

Caleb shook his head. "Five years ago? Not likely. And there would've been a big fundraising push if it was."

"He did disappear for a long time. Could've been illness."

"It just feels off," Caleb said. "Bren wasn't sick. I know that much."

"How come you know so much about him?" Nott asked.

Caleb frowned and he just looked so forlorn and lost. "I ... don't know. It's complicated but I think it's suspicious."

"So you keep saying. You actually took a shower," Nott pointed out. His hair was a much brighter now that it was clean and was a coppery auburn.

“I don’t think your partner would let me in if I hadn’t.”

“She wouldn’t have-” Nott paused. “Actually you might have a point there. Or at least you wouldn’t have heard the end of it.”

He made a small sound of acknowledgement. Nott grinned up at him despite her snagged and crooked teeth. She knew that she wasn’t an easy sight on the eyes, but he just smiled softly in a melancholy way back. The silence was carrying on for almost too long when the door banged open and Jester ran in. “I’m here! Not late!”

“It’s 9:03,” Caleb said. “That constitutes as being late.”

“It’s only late if your more than 6 minutes late! It’s a known scientific fact!” Jester shouted with a triumph grin.

Nott chuckled as Caleb frowned down at the ground. “No, it’s not,” Caleb said.

“Well, technically, she’s Nott,” Jester said pointing at her partner with a grin.

Caleb just sighed. “Can we get on with the investigation?”

“Oh, right! We’ve got a board,” Jester said turning around their small corkboard. It was barer than Jester or Nott would've liked with only the one article on it and and couple of name on the board, but they had yarn connecting things, so they were definitely going in the right direction. "And we've already got some ideas and directions to go with."

"Ja?" Caleb studied the board like he was trying to store it in his memory.

"The butler did it," Nott said with a stronger confidence in her voice than her head.

Caleb frowned. "Nein. There was no butler."

"How do you know?" Jester asked.

"I don't know, I just know that there wasn't a butler. I think I knew him once," Caleb said.

"Knew him? You mean Bren?"

Caleb nodded. "Ja. I don't know how I know that I knew him but I did."

"Caleb." Jester leaned in close to him barely an inch away from his face. Nott could almost feel the embarrassment radiating off of him. "Do you have memory problems?" She gasped. "Do you have like amnesia and are all tragic and stuff?"

"It's not like that. I just ... hit my head hard a while ago so it's hard to keep everything straight in my head," Caleb said looking away from them.

Nott gently put her hand on his. "It's okay. We can take care of the case ourselves if it's too hard for you."

Caleb looked down at her his eyes wide with surprise. "Erm, thanks. It's not that bad though."

"Why is solve this murder for you so important?" Jester asked. "Is it a key to your past?"

"It's nothing like that. I just think that Bren deserves to be put to rest," Caleb said.

Nott stared up at him. It was hard to get a read on him detectiving wise. His face was flat when it came to emotions always covered with a muzzy sadness. But her mothering senses were going through the roof. This was a lost little boy if she had ever seen one before. "That's a good goal," she said smiling at Caleb.

Jester nodded. "You're a noble hobo. And you don't stink nearly as much as you used to, even if you're still a little bit on the stinky side. Maybe you should wash your coat too."

Caleb clutched his coat close around himself. "There's nothing wrong with my coat."

"It was on you when you smelled like garbage. It probably smells like garbage too," Jester said.

"It's none of your business," he said. "There are more important things to do than talking about whether my coat smells bad or not."

Nott nodded. "That's right! We haven't had breakfast yet."

Jester gasped. "You're right!"

"Do you really have time for that?" Caleb asked.

"Of course there is," Jester said. "You can't detective on an empty stomach."

Caleb’s stomach grumbled at them. His face turned a bright beet red.

“See? Even your stomach agrees. It’s time for food,” Jester said. She grabbed his arm and started to drag him towards the door. He tried to get out of her grip, but it was too strong for him to break from. Jester didn’t look like it, but she was definitely the muscle of the operation.

“Wait, you can eat without me. I don’t need to go with you,” Caleb said.

Nott looked up at him,. “But we have a lot of things to discuss.”

“You can discuss them without me,” Caleb said. “I, I don’t have the money for it.”

“Then it gets to be my treat,” Jester said clapping her hands.

“But, I’m paying you. You shouldn’t be using your hard earned money to feed me,” Caleb said.

Jester continued to the door still holding on to Caleb. “Too late, we’ve already decided. You’re coming with us.”

* * *

Caleb nearly had worse table manners than Nott did which was a hard thing to do (Nott never fully mastered the concept of chewing with her mouth closed). He ate like his food would run away from him or like he hadn't eaten in a month and he would slip bites of food into his coat for his cat. "What's their name?" Jester asked.

"Whose name?"

"Your coat cat, does it have a name?" Jester asked. From what she could tell, it was a very cute cat and deserved all the pets and head scratches, but it rarely emerged from the depths of Caleb's coat.

"Frumpkin." And with that Frumpkin pushed his head out properly. He was a small cat with short sleek hair and dark oblongish spots on its forehead.

Jester grinned at the cat. "Frumpkin, I can tell that we are definitely going to be friends."

"This isn't about making friends," Caleb said. "It's about bringing a murderer to justice."

Jester blew a raspberry at him. "Well then we'll have to move fast so I can hurry up and make friends with Frumpkin after we solve the crime then."

“Wait, why would you still be around to be friends with my cat?”

“Because, it’s impossible to not become friends after solving a case so big together,” Jester said. “Everyone knows that.”

Nott nodded. “It’s true. That’s how we became friends.”

“And what was your first case together?” Caleb asked.

“The Great Missing Hound Caper!” Jester and Nott said in unison waving their hands with flare.

Jester continued. “See, my neighbor’s dog was missing and so I had to go find it and Nott saw me looking so she helped me and so we became the greatest detectives ever. So, yeah, by the time we’re through, you’re totally gonna be friends with us.”

Caleb stared down at the table, but he didn’t say anything.

“But there’s no rushing things,” Nott said. “We need to go over the facts and decide on what’s our first course of action.”

“The facts?” Caleb frowned slightly. “Bren Aldric Ermendrud died 5 years, 3 months, and 14 days ago. Before that no one of the public or in the company had seen him since the passing of his parents 16 years, 1 month, and 26 days ago. He was a hermit by all accounts. Before then, he managed to turn a meager company into a fortune 500 business. And before all that he went to the Soltryce Academy.” Jester stared at him. “What? I did my research.”

“That’s more than we could find,” Nott said. “Why do you need our help?”

Caleb fiddle with his napkin. “There’s only so many places a smelly hobo can go. I’m not the type that’s exactly invited into most places. And you have experience that I don’t.”

Jester smiled and wiggled a little with pride. “Well, that is true. We’ve got a lot of experience with investigating.”

“We’ll need to go to Ermendrud Industries and see what we can find out there,” Nott said.

Jester nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and see if we can find his last known house.”

“That’s going to be complicated,” Caleb said. “His last known residence was his parents’ home. Which burned down 16 years, 1 month, and 26 days ago.”

“Wait,” Nott said with a frown. “Didn’t you already say that number?”

Caleb nodded. “Yes. His parents died in a house fire.”

“That’s so tragic,” Jester said.

“It’s a common enough death,” Caleb said. “It doesn’t make it anymore tragic than anyone else’s death.”

“But it doesn’t stop it from being sad,” Nott said. “Are your parents still around?”

Caleb edged away from Nott. “I’m not what’s being investigated.”

“So can you think of any motives someone would have for wanting Bren dead?” Nott asked.

“He was some snot-nosed know-it-all brat who managed to grow a small family business into a multi-billion dollar industry leader in less than 5 years. You don’t do that without making at least a few enemies,” Caleb pointed out.

Jester nodded along like she already knew all of this. “So we’ll need to focus on his competitors then and see if Ermendrud Industries bought out anybody or drove anyone out of business.”

“You’ll also want to look at any fired employees or anyone that had been with the company since before he took over. There’s bound to be someone who didn’t like the changes he made,” Caleb said before taking one last bite of his breakfast.

“So, to the library?” Nott asked.

For the first time a smile crept onto Caleb’s face. It wasn’t a big one or a particularly bright one, but it was a smile and Jester was surprised by how nice it was. “Ja, let’s.”

* * *

The only thing stopping Jester from groaning was that she didn’t want any librarians shushing her. She had hoped that Beau would be there, but apparently she had the day off. After the first fifteen minutes, every word Jester looked at turned into ‘blah blah blah’. Nott seemed to be having better luck at least, and Caleb was hidden behind stacks of books surrounding him.

Jester got up from the computer and logged out. There wasn’t anything that she could look up on it that she couldn’t look for on her phone. She wandered through the rows of books until she find a quiet spot to think. The case was super cool, but also super weird. Part of her kept expecting Caleb to reveal he was some kind of maniac or something, but the rest of her wanted desperately for this to be real.

And Caleb seemed nice though in a sad distant way. And with his shower he almost looked cute. Now if he could just do a shave. Jester stretched and pulled out her phone. There was not much to look up. She couldn’t figure out what companies would be holding a grudge against Ermendrud Industries.

Jester ended up looking up Bren’s obituary again. It was weird how little it told about his death. Barely half a sentence on the how and that was just saying it natural causes but not even what kind of natural cause. She was about to close the article when something caught her eye. The obituary mentioned what funeral home prepared his body. They would have to know how he died or at least have a file on him and maybe even an autopsy report. Quickly, Jester saved the name Clay Funeral Home in her notes and hurried to let Nott about her epiphany.

She returned to the main part of the library to see Nott and Caleb talking to each other softly. Nott was smiling and, while Jester couldn’t hear her, it was obvious that she was talking enthusiastically. Caleb was much more reserved but was taking part nonetheless. Jester paused. She wasn’t the most experienced detective, but she thought that she was the perfect partner for Nott. And yet seeing Caleb and Nott together flooded Jester with all sorts of doubts. There was something natural about the combination of the two that she couldn’t explain.

Nott looked up and waved wildly to Jester. Pasting a big grin on her face, Jester rushed over. “What’s you guys got?” Jester asked.

“Caleb’s found a bunch of connections to Cerebus Assembly Inc.,” Nott said.

“It folded right before Bren went into seclusion, and Ermendrud Industries acquired a lot of their holdings and upper management. It feels like a likely motive,” Caleb said.

“Ah, well,”Jester said, “I found the funeral home that buried him. They might have details about the body.” It felt small and insignificant compared to Caleb’s findings.

Caleb rubbed his chin. “That could be big if we can figure out the cause of death. Good work.”

Jester grinned brightly. “So we’ll need to go to Ermendrud Industries and start asking some questions and then call the funeral parlor.” Easy as cake.

“I’ll take care of the funeral parlor and you two take Ermendrud Industries,” Caleb said.

"Don't you want to come with us?" Jester asked.

"It will be easier for you to get in without me." Caleb waved down at himself. “As you've been telling me, I'm a smelly hobo."

"But that doesn't mean that you're a bad, smelly hobo," Nott interjected.

Jester nodded. "Yeah, we like you even though you smell like a portapotty."

Caleb blushed. "Thanks," he mumbled tucking his head down to the side.

"Should we go do this then?" Nott asked.

Jester pumped her fist into the air. "Heck yeah!" Only to be immediately shushed since they were still at the library.

* * *

Jester and Nott stood outside of Ermendrud industries. They both had to crane their necks all the way back to even slightly glimpse of the top of the building. It was all sleek and fancy and high-rised. Jester had to give them points for style. If she was an industry leader, she'd want to be super cool and imposing looking.

Nott clung to Jester's side. "Are we ready for this?" Her hands shook and Jester could see her reaching for her trusty flask.

"Totally," Jester said. "We're Nott the Best Detective Agency, and Caleb trusts us to get this done."

"Do you really think he believes in us?" Nott asked.

Jester looked down at her friend and partner in crime stopping. "Of course he does. Otherwise why would he hire us?"

"Cause we're the cheapest detectives in the state," Nott said.

That was true, but they were new and needed to build up their reputation before charging the big bucks. "Nah, he just knew that we're really cool and stuff. Who wouldn't want to hire us?"

"Most people in Zadash," Nott said before taking a gulp from her flask.

Jester grabbed and squeezed Nott's hand. "Come on, we got this. Now follow my lead." With more confidence than she truly had, Jester strode into the foyer.

A bored receptionist looked up from her desk. The nametag on the desk read Claudia. "Hello? How can I help you?"

“Hi Claudia!” Jester said brightly. “I’m Jester and this is my associate Nott and we are detectives!”

An uncomfortable tight lipped expression crossed Claudia’s face. “Oh?”

“Yeah! And we’re investigating your boss’s death,” Jester said.

“Well, not your now boss,” Nott piped in, “but your old boss, Bren Aldric Ermendrud.”

“Oh, um, I wasn’t here when he was in charge,” Claudia said. “I’ve only been here seven years.”

Jester pulled out her phone and started audio recording. “So Bren Aldric Ermendrud wasn’t your boss the seven years you were here.”

Claudia looked at the phone with a grimace. “Do you really have to record that?”

“Of course,” Nott said. “A true detective records everything. You never know what’s a clue.”

“Now can you let us in?” Jester asked. She grinned widely at Claudia.

“I’m sorry but you have to have an appointment,” Claudia said.

Jester leaned in. “Can you make us an appointment? Please?”

“You haven’t even told me who you wanted to talk to.” For some odd reason Claudia looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“Are you okay Claudia? You look all funny like you’re constipated or something,” Jester said.

“I’m fine, but you can’t just barge in here.”

Nott stood on her tiptoes to look over Claudia’s tall desk. “That’s why we need you to make us an appointment.”

“Yeah, with someone who’s been here for like forever,” Jester added.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just do that.”

“Why not?” Jester asked.

Claudia sighed. “Cause I’d lose my job.”

Jester softly gasped. “Why? Has someone been giving you a hard time? Are you being threatened? Do you need help?”

“I’m fine,” Claudia said. “There are just certain rules that I have to follow here and that includes not just letting anybody come in here.”

Jester and Nott exchanged a look. Nott pulled out their business card and left it on the desk. “If you need any help or anything, you call us. Okay?”

“Oh, okay?” Claudia cautiously took the business card.

“Alright! Bye Claudia!” Jester shouted out with a wave as she and Nott left the building.

Outside, Nott kicked at the ground. “Nothing. You know, I’m starting to think that we might not  
Very good at the whole detectiving thing.”

Jester gasped dramatically. “What?! No! We’re great at this.”

“But we still know nothing.”

“We know Claudia,” Jester said. “And that’s a start.”

Nott frowned but nodded anyways. “If you say so. I just hope that Caleb is having better luck than us.”

* * *

A small single flame danced at the end of the match. There was no wind to kill it, so it was a slow death was it crept down the matchstick dying all along the way. Right before it reached Caleb’s fingers it went out.

With a sigh, Caleb dropped and stomped out the match. Sometimes watching a match burnout would calm down Caleb, but this time it seemed to just make his nerves worse. Maybe this was a terrible idea. He could have used that money for food and maybe another sweater for when winter came, but it was already too late. The detectives were nice; he had to admit that, but being nice only got people so far. And why did he feel the compulsion to get to the bottom of Bren’s death in the first place? It’s not like Caleb had ever met the man or owed him anything. Caleb could just leave. Leave and never think about Bren Aldric Ermendrud, Zadash, or Ermendrud Industries ever again. It was tempting.

Frumpkin meowed from inside Caleb’s coat. “Oh, ja, you can come out.” The cat climbed out and perched on Caleb’s shoulder with a seemingly regal bearing. Caleb scratched Frumpkin’s chin. “Come along now. We have to be on our best behavior.” He crossed the street and entered the funeral home.

At the desk stood an incredibly tall man with a cascading pink mohawk. He looked up from his tea and smiled easily at Caleb. “Hmm, hello. Welcome to Clay’s Funeral Parlor. How can I help you.”

“Ja, I was wondering about your business here and what all you are doing here. See, I’m a writer and wanted to learn more about morticians and such,” Caleb said. He had learned long ago that saying one was a writer opened all sorts of doors. “I’m working on a murder mystery.” That much was true at least.

The tall man lazily scratched his chin. “Oh, that’s real nice. But we don’t have much to do with mysteries here. Murders maybe, everyone needs to be buried sooner or later. Any specific questions?”

“Ja, I was wondering do you do autopsies here?”

“Nah, that’s usually the county coroner’s or a doctor’s duty. But if you touch enough dead bodies, you start to get a pretty good idea of how they died. The name’s Caduceus, by the way. Caduceus Clay.” He extended a large hand to Caleb.

Caleb stared at it for a moment before shaking it. “Caleb Widogast. But that’s not my pen name. Actually, I write true crime. Can you tell me, did you work here when Bren Aldric Ermendrud was brought in here?”

Caduceus scratched his chin. "Hard to say. Don't really remember that name. Do you know when would have been buried?"

"It was 5 years, 3 months and 14 days ago," Caleb said. "Did you work here?"

"Nah, that was before I started here," Caduceus said.

"Is there someone here who was working here at the time?"

Caduceus shook his head. "The funeral home’s been in the family for years, but I’m the only one here at the moment.” Caleb frowned at this news. "But we've probably got records on him somewhere. Might take me awhile to find them though. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," Caleb said. He pulled out the business card that Jester had given him earlier. "Here, this is my associates' number. My cell's been acting up lately. Can you call them if you find his file?"

Caduceus nodded. "Yeah, I can do that for you."

"Danke," Caleb said as he started to head out.

"Hey," Caduceus said. Caleb turned around. "You're not really writing a book are you?"

Caleb stared at him silently. "If I wasn't, would you still look up Bren Aldric Ermendrud's file?"

"I guess so. Says here your friends are detectives. Makes sense for them to look for dead people," Caduceus said. "But why are you lying?"

Caleb remained silent as he left the funeral parlor.

* * *

Jester paced the office as she and Nott waited for Caleb. “The facts are these,” she said.

Nott looked up at her expectantly, but Jester didn’t say anything else. “So what are the facts?”

“Right, the facts. Well, first is that Bren is dead. We know that much.”

“So we know nothing,” Nott said.

Jester pouted. “Not nothing. We also know that nobody had seen Bren in years.”

“What we know is that we have to keep looking,” Caleb said as he came in.

Jester spun around. “Caleb! What did you find out?”

“Nothing yet. The mortician has to look at his files first and that might take a few days. And you?”

“Nothing. Couldn’t even get past the receptionist. We gave her our card though,” Nott said.

Caleb sighed. "So a dead end there."

"Yeah, but we told her to call us if she had any problems," Jstere said. “So really it's not that bad."

"It's not that good either," Nott said.

Jester put her hands on her hips. "Hey, we didn't get to be Nott the Best Detective Agency by giving up. There has to be another lead."

Nott gave it some thought. "We could go to the last known location of Bren."

"That would most likely be Ermendrud Industries," Caleb said.

"What about his house?" Jester said.

Caleb frowned. "The last known address was his parents' home."

"Then let’s go there," Jester jester.

Caleb rubbed his arm. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Nott asked.

"Just a hunch," Caleb said.

"Hey," Jester said, "we can't just let our doubts get in our way. This is all we got right? Then let's go for it."

Caleb didn't look uncomfortable, but he didn't look happy either. "Fine, but I don't think anything will turn up there either."

* * *

It was a quiet corner of town. Not expensive or fancy, but it wasn't a bad part of town either. Just pleasantly mundane. Jester and Nott led the while Caleb trailed behind them. "Are we getting close?" Jester asked.

"Ja, just another two blocks south and a block west."

"Ummmmm," Jester said.

Caleb sighed. "Go straight for two blocks and then a block to the right."

"Oh ok." Jester had to hold back the urge to skip. It wasn't something that a professional detective did, but she was just so excited to be moving forward with the case.

Caleb was decidedly less excited. He hung far back, and there were moments where Jester thought that he was just going to ditch them. "There's not going to be anything there."

"Don't be such a grumpy puss," Jester said. "All we can do is check it out and see for ourselves."

Nott was full of the same nervous energy that Jester was judging by how she'd sometimes dash up ahead, look about, and then come back. "Do you think anyone's spying on us?"

"Not likely," Caleb said. "We're just a bunch of nobodies."

"But we should be careful," Jester said. "A good detective never lets her guard down."

"Right," Nott said.

They reached the corner and turned. Caleb held back and grabbed Jester's arm. "This isn't a good idea."

Jester peeled Caleb's hand off her arm. "What makes you say that?"

"Call it realistic pessimism," Caleb said. "I just don't think this will end well."

"Hey, you got us here. We're super good detectives, so if there's even the smallest of clues here, we're sure to find them," Jester said beaming at Caleb.

He stared glumly back at her. "If you say so."

Nott dashed back to them. "Umm guys? Are you sure this is the right street?"

"O'Brien Avenue," Caleb said. "This is the right place."

"Then isn't there anything there?"

Where should have been 6920 was nothing but a lot. There were hints of an old foundation and partially burned outline of something, but that was it. "What?!" Jester shouted. This was not what was supposed to happen. There was supposed to be a house that Nott and Jester could search or something, but instead there was nothing. "Caleb," Jester said turning back to him.

Caleb stood there frozen his eyes wide open just staring at where Bren's house was supposed to be. His hands covered his mouth, and his breath was panicked and uneven.

"Caleb? Caleb!" Nott tugged on his sleeve, but he didn't respond to here.

Jester grabbed his hands. "Come on Caleb. Follow me, we'll get you out of here." He numbly followed her as she led him away. Nott stuck close to his side murmuring encouraging comments. Finally they got to a bench several blocks away and got him to sit down.

"What should we do?" Jester whispered to Nott.

Nott frowned at Caleb, who's breathing was more stable but he still had those wide startled eyes. "You go get him something to drink. I'll stay here with him."

"Right." Jester ran to the nearest convenience store and grabbed a couple of water bottles. She didn't understand what had happened. The house was gone and that somehow messed Caleb up. And he had been telling them that they wouldn't find anything there, but how did he know? Had Caleb already gone there and that's why he knew? But then why didn't he warn them that it was gone if he already knew. None of it made any sense.

When Jester came back, Nott was sitting next Caleb rubbing the back of his hand. He seemed much calmer but all he did was stare ahead of him. "Hi," Jester said a lot less enthusiastically than she normally would've. She opened the water bottle and passed it to Caleb. "Are you okay?"

Caleb stared down at the bottle in his hands. “Not really, but that’s probably obvious.”

“What happened back there?” Nott asked.

“I don’t fully know,” Caleb said. He sighed and rest his head in one hand. “I should probably start at the beginning. Five years, four months, and two days ago I was in an insane asylum.” Caleb took a sip of water and stared at the bottle. “Before then I assume that I was there, but I don’t remember much before then. I have memories, but they’re all just a mixed up mess. But five years, four months, and two days ago was when I realized that I was in an asylum and knew that I was a person. And three days later I escaped.”

Jester stared at him uncertain on what to say. “Why were you there?” Nott ended up asking.

Caleb shrugged. “Don’t know. I wasn’t fully in my head before I woke up, so I guess that’s why. Back then I wasn’t sure of much. I’ve been gaining more memories since then, but they are just a mess.”

“And what does Bren Ermendrud have to do with them?” Jester asked.

“I wish I knew. I don’t remember him per say, but I remember a lot about him. I knew his parents.” Caleb looked back at where their house had once been. “There was a fire. I think I was there that day, but I don’t really know.”

“What does that mean?”

Caleb handed the water back to Jester. “Come on. We should get going before it gets too late.”

* * *

Nott stared up at Caleb as they went back to the office. He had a frown firmly chiseled into his face. She’d give a dime for his thoughts, but he probably wouldn’t take it. His legs were long, so she had to hurry to keep up with him. Meanwhile, Jester was deep in her own thoughts.

It was all a lot to take in, but it was hard to think of Caleb as a danger. Sure he was an escaped inmate from a mental institution, but that didn't mean that he was bad. But she could picture him lost in an institution. Maybe it wasn't too bad of one, but Nott had her doubts.

"So, what's our plans for tomorrow?" Nott asked but neither replied. "I was thinking that maybe we could go back to Ermendrud Industries. You know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease?"

"I guess," Jester said but her heart wasn't in it. "Are, that is, I mean." She let out a heavy sigh. "Caleb? Are you crazy?"

Nott had been wondering the same thing but she didn't have the nerve to say the question out loud.

Caleb stared out into the street. "I don't know. I think I once was."

"Oh," Jester said. "Are you feeling better?"

"I don't think better exists for me," Caleb said.

"Hey, you saved enough money for a top notch detective team. I don't think a crazy person could do that," Nott said.

Caleb chuckled. "I don't think that has anything to do with anything."

"It means you're a man who thinks ahead. It's a good skill to have," Nott said. "It's a trait I'd want my son to have."

Caleb gave her an odd look but he didn't say anything more on the subject.

The was jingling buzz. "Oh!" Jester cried out. "We got a text!"

"What? Who's it from?" Nott asked. She stood on her tiptoes to try and read what the cell phones, but Jester held it just out of her reach.

"It's an unregistered number. Let's see; it says that the Knights of Requital wants to speak with us tonight,"Jester said. "This could be a lead!"

"Or a new job," Nott pointed out.

Jester turned to Caleb. "But you don't have to worry if it's a job offer. We can handle more than one case at a time and yours will be our priority."

"Danke," Caleb said. "But maybe you shouldn't put all your chickens in one basket."

"We're not," Nott said. "But we do want to see your case to the end, and Bren will see justice."

"That's right! We're with you until the end, Caleb!" Jester said excitedly.

Caleb smiled with a touch of melancholy.

"But I'm going to let the Knights of Requital know that we're going to be there." Jester typed out a text. "And, sent! See things are starting to look up."

* * *

The Leaky Tap was not as leaky as Jester was expecting it to be. It was a noisy bar and that much she had expected. She had also expected there to be milk, but there wasn’t. There was a lot of alcohol though. Nott was happy about that.

Caleb was not happy about any of it. He sat tight against the wall and watched the bar carefully. Frumpkin sat on his lap and Caleb continuously scratched him behind his ear. “When will they here?”

Jester checked her phone. “Says here they’re having trouble finding parking. But they’ll be here soon.” She pulled out a notebook. “Maybe we should go over what we got so far. Oh, here.” Leaning across the table, Jester handed Caleb her phone. “I recorded our conversation with Claudia.”

“Hmmm.” Caleb listened to the recording. “This is wrong.”

Jester leaned over. ”What is?”

“You said that Caludia wasn’t at Ermendrud Industries while Bren Aldric Ermendrud was in charge, but that’s wrong. She was there for seven years and he didn’t die until 5 years-”

“Yes, yes we know,” Nott said. “So what does that have to do with anything?”

Caleb frowned at the notes. “I have no idea.”

“That means that employees didn’t think of him as their boss?” Jester suggested. “That to them he wasn’t in charge?”

“But he was in charge,” Caleb said. “He wasn’t there, but he was in charge.”

Jester shrugged. “Yeah, but they never saw him, so they didn’t believe in him? Like people don’t believe in the Easter Bunny cause they don’t see him.”

“But Bren Aldric Ermendrud did exist. That’s not up for debate,” Caleb said pointedly.

“Well, yeah, but he was never there so he was just a figurehead who did nothing for all they knew,” Nott said. “Also, do you still believe in the Easter Bunny?” she asked Jester.

Jester waved the question off. “That’s not important. What’s important is Bren and what happened to him.”

Caleb finished his beer. "That's right."

The poppy song started playing on the jukebox. "You should dance with me," Jester teased.

"Maybe later," Caleb said. "The knights should here soon."

And with that three people approached their booth. "Are you Nott the Best Detective Agency?" asked a short thin man with graying hair.

"Yeah, that's us," Jester said. "Sit down, sit down.“

The booth really wasn't big enough to fit them all but they managed to squeeze in some how. Jester was pressed snuggly against Caleb. "You're the Knights of Requital right?"

"That would be us," the lead one said. "You've been investigating Ermendrud Industries?"

"Well, we've been investigating the death of Bren Aldric Ermendrud," Nott said. "But that's someone connected to Ermendrud Industries."

The other man snorted. "He's the reason why the company’s such a mess."

"You work there?" Jester asked.

"Former employees," the lead man said. "I'm Dolan and these are my associates, Ulog and Kara."

A waitress set down a round of drinks for them, and Caleb grabbed his beer.

"Why don't you work there any more?" Nott asked.

"Wrongful dismissal," Dolan said. "I was fired so that someone's nephew could have my job. There's a lot of stories like it."

"The whole company’s underhanded," Ulog said. "They've been cutting a lot of corners when it came to safety precautions. When I pointed it out I got canned."

Kara just shrugged. "Wrong place wrong time."

"It used to be a good place to work at, but in the last ten years it's gotten pretty bad," Dolan said.

"So can you help us?" Jester asked. "We're looking for people that might've had a grudge against your old boss, Bren Aldric Ermendrud."

Ulog snorted. "There's an entire line up. He laid off the entire south division one day without a warning."

Caleb blanched and made a strangled sound. Jester tried to pat his back to dislodge whatever was caught in his throat, but he waved her off. "Went down the wrong tube," he said weakly.

Dolan tilted his head at him. "Have we met before?"

"Not likely," Caleb said. He took another swig of beer.

"So was that sort of thing common?" Nott asked.

"Not at first," Dolan said "Twenty years ago it was mostly on the up and up and stable work, but it just went down hill out of nowhere."

“Was this before or after Bren disappeared?” Nott asked.

Dolan gave it some thought. “After Trent Ikithon came in I think.”

Ulog snorted. “Now there’s a bastard and a half.”

Caleb stiffened next to Jester and turned a chalky white. ”Ikithon?” He sounded like he was about to puke.

“Are you okay?” Jester asked.

“Need air,” Caleb gasped out.

Jester climbed out of the booth over Ulog and pulled Caleb out behind her. They stumbled out of the bar just barely in time for Caleb to be sick in the bushes. Jester rubbed his back as he got the last of it out. "There, there. You feeling better?"

Caleb wiped his mouth off. "No, but I'm done puking."

"That's good. You gotta be careful with how much you drink. You're a really skinny guy."

"Nein," Caleb said shaking his head, "it wasn't the beer. I can drink more than that."

Jester smiled softly. "Cay-leb, there's no shame in being a lightweight."

"Nein, I'm not drunk. It was that name, I know that name," Caleb said.

Jester gave it some thought. "Trent Ikithon?"

Caleb paled again, but he didn't vomit. "Ja. I know him somehow, but I can't tell you how."

"One of your jumbled memories?"

Caleb nodded again. "Don't trust him. Don't go anywhere near him."

"How come?" Jester asked.

"He's dangerous. And yes I know I don't know anything, but I know that he's a danger and that I don't want to see you or Nott hurt, so promise me you won't get near him." He grabbed both of her hands. "Promise?"

Jester nodded trying to ignore how slimy his hands were with puke. "I promise. Caleb, were you a dangerous guy?"

"I don't know," Caleb said looking away. "But you probably shouldn't trust me either."

Jester pouted at me. "I think you might be dangerous, but so am I."

Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"I once punched a guy so hard his appendix exploded," Jester said with a smirk. "So, I can handle a little danger. You don't have to worry about me."

"Good to know," Caleb said taking a step back.

Jester giggled and grabbed his hands pulling him back to her. "But you don't have to be afraid of me either."

Caleb half smiled. "That's good to know too."

"You can smile!" Jester shouted.

"Ja, most people smile."

Jester shook her head. "But not you. You're always super mopey and staring into the distance. I like it better when you smile."

Caleb's face turned bright red. "I'll, I'll keep that in mind."

"Good!" Jester clapped her hands together. "Have you gotten enough fresh air?"

"Not really, but we have to go inside eventually," Caleb said pulling his coat tighter around himself.

Jester lead the way back to the booth just as the Knights of Requital were getting up to leave. "You're going already?"

Dolan nodded. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. That and our meter's going to run out soon and we can't afford a ticket."

"What a bunch of weirdos," Nott muttered as they left. Caleb raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.

“Did you find out anything else?” Jester asked.

“Well, they did give me this,” Nott said holding a stack of files. “It’s a bunch of grievances and stuff I guess against the company.”

Caleb hummed thoughtfully. “That’s a good place to find motives. We’ll need to go through them all, but it should paint a picture.”

“A boring picture or a nudey picture?” Jester asked waggling her eyebrows.

Caleb turned bright red and covered his face. “Isn’t it getting a little late for that?”

Nott nodded. “Caleb and I can take all this to the office. You go home Jester.”

“Okay,” Jester said. “But don’t you dare get a head start on this without me. I want to be there when we crack this case wide open.”

“There’s no way we can crack the case without you,” Nott said. “Now go home and get some sleep we’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

Jester rolled her eyes but giggled anyways. “Okay, Nott. I’ll see both of you tomorrow!” She waved goodbye to them before running off to go home.

* * *

“She’s an energetic one,” Caleb said as they watched Jester run off.

Nott chuckled. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“And you are a mothering one.”

Nott rubbed her arm awkwardly. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“So you need me to take you to the office?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, but I need you to keep something important secret, okay?”

“Ja, I won’t tell a soul,” Caleb said.

Nott heaved out a sigh. “Good.” She didn’t really have a plan if Caleb refused. He hung close to her slightly behind as they traveled down the streets. “Here we are,” she said once they got to the building containing the detective office.

They entered in silence until Nott locked the door behind them. “You can go ahead and take your shoes off if you’d like.”

“We’re not just dropping off the files?” Caleb said.

“Nah, I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Nott said. “I can’t really afford rent yet by myself here, and I’m not breaking any laws sleeping here.”

“And Jester doesn’t know about this?”Caleb asked.

Nott pushed her hair back not missing how Caleb winced at her burn scars. “I don’t want to worry her. She’s got her own life to worry about.”

“Hmmm,” Caleb said. “And you don’t care about worrying me.”

“More like I know you’re in a similar boat,” Nott said. “I’m inviting you to stay here. You know, if you want to that is. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean you’d have to sleep on the couch here.”

Caleb looked around the room probably noting the one couch and mismatched chairs. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Too late for that,” Nott said. “I’m pretty small so I can just curl up on the armchair. So it’s really not a bother. And it’s cold out.”

“I can’t argue against that. And it would give me more time to get started in the morning,” Caleb said.

Nott beamed at him. “That’s right!”

“But this is only for until we solve this murder. After that, we’ll go our separate ways.”

The thought of turning Caleb away didn’t sit right in Nott’s stomach, but she couldn’t argue with him. “Deal.”

* * *

“BEEAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUU!!!” Jester shouted as soon as she entered her apartment. “Beau! Beau! Beau!”

“Jeez, Jes, I heard you the first time.” Beau poked her head out of the kitchen. “Was there another sale on donuts or something?”

Jester shook her head so hard her hair flew around her. “No, it’s bigger than that! We’ve got a major clue for the case!”

“And which case is that one?” Beau leaned against the door frame in her work out clothes/pajamas lazily eat a cup of yogurt.

“The murder!”

Beau nearly dropped her spoon. “The murder? What murder?!”

“Oh right, I didn’t tell you about this case.” Jester sat on top of the couch. “Right, so, me and Nott got hired by this stinky hobo guy to figure out if this one guy got murdered like 5 years ago.”

“Seriously?”

Jester nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, and we met with some disgruntled ex-employees of his.”

“Do you think any of them did it?” Beau asked.

Jester paused. She hadn’t thought of that. “Nah, I don’t think they’d talk to us if they did.”

“Might be trying to throw you off the trail.” Beau took another bite of yogurt.

“I don’t think they’re that clever,” Jester said.

Beau shrugged. “You’re the detective.”

“Right, I am,” Jester trying to be the picture of confidence. “It’s super weird though.”

“What makes you say that?”

"This guy, Bren Aldric Ermendrud, there's not even any pictures of him or anything. Apparently he was super private and stuff and then he disappeared for like 11 years and then he died," Jester said.

Beau rubbed her chin. "That sounds suspicious to me."

Jester nodded. "I know, right? It's like he never existed in the first place. But he died so he must have existed."

"Maybe you're just not digging deep enough," Beaus said. "Maybe I can check him out for you?"

"You'd do that for me?"

Beau shrugged. "It'd give me something almost interesting to do at work and there's no one better at digging up dirt on someone than me." She grinned smugly.

"You are pretty good at getting dirty," Jester said.

Beau shoved Jester. "Hey! I'm doing you a favor. I can take it back."

"Beeeaaaauuuuuu," Jester pouted. "Every amazing detective needs a kick butt librarian behind them supporting them with the boring stuff."

"You'll owe me," Beau said.

"I'll do the dishes for two weeks."

"Deal."

* * *

"Guys," Jester groaned. "You promised to wait for me before getting started on cracking the case."

The floor of the office was covered with files and paperwork. Nott looked up from the stack she was working on, but Caleb kept reading. "Sorry, we just wanted to start organizing things."

"So what are we looking for?" Jester asked.

"Recurring names," Caleb said. "See if there's anyone who repeatedly was wronged by Ermendrud Industries. We'll especially want to note the ones right before his death."

"I'm checking to see if there were any unusual promotions or pay offs after his death too," Nott said. "But Caleb will need more help with his stacks."

Jester nodded. "Right, let's do this."

On the list of very boring uninteresting things to do, sorting through business acquisitions and factory closures was on the very top. Jester chewed at the end of her highlighter and stared at all the paperwork spread out in front of her. There didn't seem to be any patterns in anything or especially recurring names. "Is Trent Ikithon a suspect?" Nott asked. "He's the one running the business now."

Caleb turned deathly pale. "J-Ja," he managed to stammer.

"Alright I'll put his name on the cork board." Once Nott was done there was one single suspect on their board(they had already removed any references to butlers).

"Are you okay, Caleb," Jester asked.

He nodded. "Ja, ja, I'm fine." And he didn't look like he was going to puke this time, so Jester guessed that it was probably true. "This is just a lot to go through." Caleb definitely had a point there. Even with the three of them working on it, it was going to take them all day to go through it. Ermendrud Industries was most definitely not working on the up and up.

Jester frowned at the stack she was working on. At this point, it all just sounded like a broken trombone going wah wah wah. But she felt like she couldn't take a break with how hard Caleb and Nott were working too, and they weren't complaining about feeling tired. She spread out the files and papers and put them in chronological order hoping that that would magically make it easier to get through it all. Pouting silently, she went through them all. Detective work was supposed to be interesting and exciting and full of daring romantic deeds. Instead, this was just a bunch of reading and hoping they stumble upon the right details.

Looking over everything in chronological made it look neater. Jester had to give it that. But it felt like she was missing something from the picture. "Caleb," she called.

"Ja?"

"Can I see your files?" she asked.

He frowned at her holding the papers closer to himself. "Why? I'm using them."

"I need to check something," Jester said. "Please?"

Caleb huffed out a short sigh. "Very well then. What do you need them for?"

"I'm putting them in order." Jester spread them all out in a curving line trying to use all the space that she could. " There!" Jester stood back and admired her handy work. "Wait." She jumped and grabbed the yarn from the corkboard. Cutting several long strands, she organized the line of pages.

"What does this mean?" Caleb asked.

Jester laid down the first strand. "This-' she pointed at the yarn- "is when Bren went into seclusion. And there's only one questionable business practice before then. And this," she ran to close to the half way point "is when he died."

"And what does this tell us?" Caleb asked.

"Ummmmm." Jester frowned down at her work. "It tells us something."

Nott looked over. "Is there a pattern? To maybe the years?"

"Right! I'll cut more yarn." Jester laid out more threads. The first year of Bren's disappearance only had one grievance in it and the next had 4. The number kept growing until it steady out to about 14 a year eight years into Bren stepping away from the spotlight. His death didn't seem to change anything at all. "So, there's a pattern. We just need to figure out what it means."

Caleb stepped back from it. "It means that Bren Aldric Ermendrud was not a good man when he died."

"But he didn't start out bad," Jester pointed out. "During his first five years in charge of the company there was only one bad spot.”

Caleb scanned the first grievance quickly. “This could be argued as having to make hard decisions. Looks like a lose lose situation if you ask me."

"Yeah, and then you have the first year that Bren went into hiding and then it goes downhill from there," Jester said.

Nott leaned over the last few years. "There's no difference between right before and after his death."

"So? Bren was not a good person," Caleb said.

"I think it means that either he was influenced by his replacement or maybe he wasn't making all of the decisions," Jester said.

"What?"

Jester nodded. "I mean nobody could see him or anything other than Ikithon. If you just had one person doing all the talking for someone, they could say whatever the heck they wanted to say."

“I mean if I didn't like the instructions a shut-in was giving me and I was the only one who saw them, then I'd fib sometimes." Nott said. "Not anything to this degree but like, yeah I spoke to the postman and told him not deliver things on Saturday."

"But, Ikithon wouldn't," Caleb started to say. "Bren trusted him. I mean we can't trust him, he's a dangerous man, but Bren did."

"And what did it get Bren?" Nott asked. "He's dead and his companies reputation is ruined. Even if Ikithon had nothing to do with his death, he sure had his way with the company."

"I guess," Caleb said with a frown. "But Ikithon taught him, he had influence over Bren why just kill him? He could have kept in his good graces."

Jester gave it some thoughts. "Maybe Bren was starting to wisen up? Yeah, like he knew that Ikithon was taking advantage of him or that he was lying to him and was going to stop him."

"Or maybe Bren decided that he no longer wanted to be in isolation and was ready to come back to the company?" Nott suggested. "So he killed him."

"But why not just hide his death and continue business as normal?" Caleb asked.

"It would be harder to question his decisions," Nott said. "People couldn't go 'is that really what Bren said?'."

"Is that what you'd really do?" Caleb asked. "Bren trusted him."

Jester placed a hand softly on Caleb's arm. "Did you trust Ikithon once?"

Caleb looked away. "I don't even remember anything about him. How can I trust him? I'm not stupid!"

"Did you?"

A ragged sigh made its way out. "I did, I truly did once."

Nott rubbed Caleb's other arm. "It's okay, we've all made stupid decisions once or twice when it comes to men."

Jester nodded. "It's true. I should tell you about the fireman."

"The fireman?"

"One sided crush," Jester said quickly. She really thought that Fjord was the one for her, but it was just a passing crush, but it was her first one so it didn't stop it from hurting. "Turns out he was married to his job. Oh, and maybe gay or ace. We never did find out about that."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a crush. I looked up to him. He was a genius and taught me so much at school."

"He was your teacher?" Nott asked.

Caleb froze. "He, he was my teacher. I didn't remember that until now but he was."

Jester took out her phone in a flash and started typing Trent Ikithon's name into google. "It says here that he taught at Soltryce Academy."

"That's the one that Bren went to," Nott said. "Do you think you were there at the same time as Bren?"

Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess it's possible. I think I'm close to the same age as him."

"That's how you knew him or knew of him," Jester said excitedly. "You were schoolmates."

Caleb frowned. "That, that almost makes sense. I don't know. I just know that I don't like him."

"Who?"

"Bren," Caleb said. "He was arrogant and self important and didn't care what happened to other people. He was a brat, I just know it."

"If you hate him so much, why are you trying to solve his murder?" Jester asked.

Caleb frowned. "I, I feel like I owe somebody something and this is all I can think of that might repay it."

"Who?" Nott asked.

Caleb stood up. "Talking doesn't fix anything. We need to get more information on Trent Ikithon."

Jester shared a glance with Nott, but neither of them said anything. Caleb did have a point about finding out more about Ikithon. But Jester wished that Caleb would quit shutting them out all the time.

* * *

It was all too much. Caleb could barely take it anymore. He reached in his coat to grab some matches to burn off some of his nerves, but he ended up petting Frumpkin instead. Frumpkin purred under his hand.

"Right," Jester said. "First we go to the library, then we find out everything about Trent Ikithon, then we dig up dirt on him at Ermendrud Industries, and then we prove that he killed Bren Aldric Ermendrud."

"And become the greatest detectives in the city," Nott added.

Caleb didn't share their high hopes, but he wasn't going to squash them. They were too bright to be his friends, but he loved their company nonetheless and was going to miss them once this was all taken care of. He still had the feeling that he was foolish and selfish to hire them, but he was glad to be there anyways. "Ja."

It was cold even through his coat, but Jester and Nott didn't seemed bothered by it. Caleb wished he had half the energy they had.

"What's that?" Nott asked.

"What's what?" Jester asked.

Nott pointed ahead to a large crowd spilling out into the street. There were firetrucks there as well. Caleb's stomach sank with dread and he had the very strong feeling that he had seen this scene before. "Do you think there's a fire or something?" Nott asked.

"Not much smoke left," Jester said, "but you could be right. That or someone's dead or something."

"Nah, with two fire trucks? Definitely a fire," Nott said.

Caleb gripped his coat tighter around himself. "Maybe we should find a different way to get to the library."

"No, it shouldn’t be too hard to get past this crowd," Nott said. She looked up at him and her expression softened. "But, we can cross the street and go around the other side. It's not too much of a bother." Nott held his hand as they crossed the street. He didn't know if he should be insulted, embarrassed, or grateful.

Soon they were directly across from the street. The half burned building barely still standing stood there imposing and weak at the same time. All at once, Caleb was hit by the smell of burning and fire. He gagged on it and fell to his knees.

"Caleb?" Nott said her voice full of concern. She tried to rest her hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away. "Are you okay?"

Caleb shook his head. "I did it."

"Did what?" Jester asked.

"I started the fire."

"But you were with me all night," Nott said. "You didn't have time to start the fire."

Caleb shook his head again his whole body shaking with the rest of them. "Not this fire. The old fire."

"Caleb, you're scaring me," Jester said.

"I should," Caleb said. "I killed my parents."

* * *

Jester stared at Caleb. "Caleb, you're joking right?" But as soon as she asked the question, she knew that he wasn't.

Caleb stared up at her his eyes full of tears. His lips moved but nothing came out.

Nott placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Caleb, can you tell me what this is about?"

He shook his head and moved away from her struggling to get up.

"Caleb," Jester said softly. "Let's go. We'll get you something to eat and maybe you'll feel better and stop saying weird things."

Caleb glanced at Nott and then Jester. "I'm sorry." And he bolted.

Jester tried to catch up to him, but for a scrawny guy, Caleb ran like the wind and was gone. She balled up her fists and wanted to cry but she wasn’t going to do that in front of Nott.

“Jester?” someone called out. Jester turned around to see Fjord, the fireman she had told Caleb about. Her stomach flipped flopped and she felt a blush crept to her cheeks. She thought that her old crush on him was dead but it still squirmed about in her. “What are you doing here? You didn’t live here did you?”

“No, I didn’t,” Jester said. “Just walking past. Did someone fall asleep smoking? Is it arson?”

Fjord chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Too early to say what the cause was. We just put it out. It will be a day or two before the fire investigator will be able to really get started.”

Nott had nearly caught up to her, but seemed to notice Fjord. She gave Jester double thumbs up and backed away.

“You still looking to become a fire investigator?” Jester asked trying not to bring attention to Nott. Fjord and Nott never got on very well.

“Yeah, I’m nearly done with training,” Fjord said with a smile that all too often turned her legs into jelly.

“That’s really cool, Fjord,” Jester said. An idea suddenly hit her. “Do you get access to old cases and stuff to study?”

Fjord started to nod but then stopped himself. “This doesn’t have anything to do with your detective agency does it?”

“Oh Fjord,” Jester said leaning forward. “It’s super important.”

“You are not wrangling me into another one of your cases,” Fjord said with what he probably thought was a firm frown, but after Caleb, Fjord’s frowns were nothing.

“I just need to know if it was arson. You don’t have to tell me any details,” Jester said. “It’s a super old case so really it wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Fjord sighed. “You just want to know if it’s arson?”

“Yeah, like 16 years ago, at 6920 O’Brien Avenue,” Jester said.

“Now, I ain’t making any promises. It’d probably be breaking a bunch of rules, but I’ll check,” Fjord said.

Jester jumped up and down. “Thank you, Fjord! You won’t regret this.” She ran off to join Nott.

“So,” Nott said with a slick smile, “any success?”

“Yeah, Fjord’s going to check to see if Bren’s parents’ house burned down because of arson,” Jester said with a spring in her step.

Nott sighed. “That’s really great, but did he ask you on a date?”

Jester pouted with a huff. “It’s nothing like that, Nott. He let me know long ago that he isn’t interested. Just let it go.”

“Well, for your information, he’s stupid for not being interested,” Nott said.

Jester blushed. “Thanks Nott.” It didn’t make her feel any better, but it was nice to know that Nott was on her side.

* * *

The next three days dragged on. Since Caleb left, they hadn’t found any leads or anything. Jester almost wondered if Caleb was their lucky charm or something. It felt off to not have him working on the case with them even if they only knew him for a few days. Nott had been asking around about him, but so far nothing had turned up.

Part of Jester had been so convinced that Caleb was their friend and that he would stick around. “He’s like a cat,” Nott said. “Easily spooked. He’s probably off hiding somewhere.”

“Do you think he’ll ever come back?” Jester asked.

Nott shrugged. “Hard to say. Some cats do and some don’t.”

“But he’s not really a cat. Just kind of like one.”

“People are even harder to predict than cats.” Nott rubbed Jester’s shoulder. “Maybe he’ll pop up when we solve the case.”

Jester sighed. “I don’t think we’ll ever solve the case.” They had gone through the paperwork the Knights of Requital had given them three times over, checked everything they could about Ikithon, and had talked to Claudia again, but nothing came up.

Nott was about to say something where the agency’s cell phone went off. “Hello? Nott the Best Detective Agency.” A pause. “Yes, we’re friends of Caleb. Do you- Oh? You have the file on Bren’s funeral?” She quickly turned on the speaker phone.

“Yeah,” a low, rough voice said over the phone, “it’s kind of weird. We don’t do a lot of burials without a body.”

“Without a body?!” Jester and Nott chorused together.

“That’s right. Says here we were asked to do a closed casket funeral and bury it like there really was a body.”

Nott scratched her head. “But why wasn’t there a body?”

“Well, sometimes the bodies destroyed, but usually there’s just a memorial than a burial. Doesn’t say here what the cause of death was.”

“It was of natural causes,” Jsster said.

The voice on the other end of the phone let out a breath. “Huh, but I guess a lot of things are natural. Hurricanes, fires, disease, rabid wolverines. Yeah, that makes sense.”

It really didn’t make sense at all, but Jester wasn’t going to point that out. “Thank you,” she said instead.

“You’re welcome. And if you need anyone buried, stop by Clay’s Funeral Parlor. We’d love to help you with it.”

They hung up the phone. “No body?!” Nott said.

“That’s what he said.” Jester paced the floor. “But why was there no body?”

“Maybe Ikithon threw it into the ocean? To hide the murder method?” Nott suggested.

Jester clapped her hands. “Or acid! That never washes up on to the shore.”

“Good point,” Nott said. “But why have a funeral if he’s just going to hide the body? He could just have said Bren disappeared.”

“Well, cause.” Jester paused. “I don’t actually know.”

Nott tapped her chin. “Maybe, maybe, since he was the only one who saw Bren it would’ve been weird for Bren just to disappear and just saying he was dead would discourage snoops.”

“Good point! But it didn’t discourage us.” Jester shook her shoulders and grinned.

“That’s right! We didn’t find a body!”

Jester nodded. “We know that Ikithon was definitely controlling Bren somehow and he hid the body. So he’s totally the killer.”

“But how are we going to prove it?” Nott asked. “Do we just run into Ermendrud Industries, point at him, and shout ‘IT WAS YOU!’?”

“Tempting, but I don’t know if that’s how it’s done. I think we need better proof than no body. But this is headway,” Jester said.

Nott nodded. “That’s right! We just need to think on it. How about you go home and I’ll lock up for the day?”

Jester grinned. “Right! I’ll see you tomorrow Nott!”

Buzzing with energy, Jester went home. She knew that this was important and a major key to the case, but she just didn't know what to do with a missing body especially with a missing Caleb. She sighed as she entered the apartment only to find herself immediately in a headlock. "Beau?! What are you doing?"

"I'm being the greatest roommate and librarian ever. I found your guy!" Beau said with more than a little swagger.

"My guy?"

"Ermendrud! Don't tell me you've already finished that case," Bea said.

"No, but I kind of forgot that you were helping," Jester said.

Beau sighed. "It took me forever to find anything, but I got a video of him."

"A video?! You mean you got his voice and everything?" Jester asked.

Beau nodded. "Yeah. Voice and everything, so you owe me forever."

Jester slipped out of the headlock and hugged Beau hard. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Hey. That's what friends are for." Beau handed Jester her phone. "Here I've got it downloaded and ready to watch."

Jester's heart leapt into her throat. She had wondered what Bren Aldric Ermendrud was like, and now she was going to finally find out. After taking a deep breath, Jester clicked the play button.

The logo for Soltryce Academy filled the screen. "Are you looking for an education that will truly prepare you for your future? With faculty that has real world experience in the fields your exploring?"

"What is this?" Jester asked.

"Recruitment video," Beau said. "Keep watching."

The video panned over a nice looking grassy park with students studying on it and showed off a buildings that looked boring to Jester. "Soltryce Academy is the premier academy for blah blah blah-" It really didn't say blah blah blah but that's what it sounded like to Jester.

Students were being shown doing things and voicing over stuff. "Pay attention to this bit," Beau whispered.

"Ja, my name is Bren Aldric Ermendrud and what I like about Soltryce Academy is how it's allowing me to rise above everyone and thing." He had a thick Zemnian accent that almost sounded familiar. Then the video shown Bren and Jester nearly dropped the phone. He was a young man all cleaned up and shining, but there was no mistaking that auburn hair or striking blue eyes. It was Caleb.

* * *

Caleb burned the match until the flame touched his fingers. He shook it out and shoved the rest of his matches into his pocket. There were only five matches left and he didn’t know when he’d be able to get more. His hands ached to start another flame, but they always ached for it and he learned to ignore it.

It had been days since he ran from Jester and Nott and it was the right thing to do. They didn’t deserve to have to put up with him and how screwed up he was. Caleb was an idiot for thinking that he could do anything. Jester and Nott were nice people and now they had to clean up after his mess. His hand crept into his pocket and he wrenched it out. Frumpkin mewed at him with annoyance. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry. He scratched his cat and continued on his way.

Caleb knew that he should probably skip town and move on to somewhere where Jester and Nott couldn’t find him and would then just forget about him. They probably already had he hoped.

There was no destination for his feet, but he ended up the same place he ended up at everyday; 6920 O’Brien Avenue. He glared at what once was a house. Claeb burned it down. He knew he did, but didn’t remember how or why. It was a fact that he has always been a firebug, but Caleb was convinced that he was always careful and precise in putting out his fires. Which made him wonder if it was purposeful.

But, why? Why would he burn a house down and why would he allow anyone to die? Just more proof that Caleb really was a terrible person. He lit another match and put it out.

* * *

Jester was shaking when she showed Nott the video. Nott had never seen her friend like that before. Usually, Jester was all smiles and cheer, but now she looked like she just wanted to run away. She didn’t say anything before pressing play.

And there was Caleb. Or Bren. He was a cheerful boy in his late teens. The opposite of Caleb, but Nott could see hints of Caleb in him. Or was it hints of Bren in Caleb. “That’s Caleb.”

“Yeah,” Jester said. “Super weird huh?”

“Yeah. But it does explain a lot of things.” But that didn’t stop it from being so confusing and overwhelming.

Jester nodded and sunk down. Her pep was completely gone. “It explains a lot. Caleb did know a lot of things about Bren and Ikithon.”

“That’s right. And he knew about the house being gone,” Nott said.

“Right.”

“Are you okay?” Nott asked.

Jester flinched. “Oh, yeah I’m fine. I’m just worried about Caleb, Bren. Was he even our friend?”

Nott brushed Jester’s bangs out of her face. “Oh, Jester. He was.”

“Then why did he run? Why does he hate us? Were we not solving the case fast enough?” Jester asked tears streaming down her face. “And now he’s all alone and we can’t tell him and we know who he is and we can’t tell him and I don’t know why he ran.”

“He was scared, that’s all. And sometimes you like people more than they liked you, but it doesn’t mean that liking them was a mistake. Just means that they saw things differently from you.” Nott gently rubbed Jester’s back. Jester leaned heavily into Nott, but Nott didn’t mind. “Besides we cracked the case. There’s no way that we can’t tell our client the big news.”

Jester wiped her face. “But we can’t find him.”

“Yet. It’s only yet.” Nott handed Jester a rough hanky.

Jester took the hanky with a small smile. It was a start. "But what if he doesn't think we found enough proof or that we don't know what's going on?"

"We have a cork board,"Nott said. "How can he not believe us? It's amazing."

Jester frowned. "Do you ever wonder if we're just playing."

"What do you mean?"

Jester shrugged. "Just that there's people who are a lot better at this than we are. Maybe we should just leave it to them."

"Never," Nott said holding Jester's hands. "We are going to prove them all wrong and we're going to solve this case. We just need to figure out what happened."

"Well, we know that Bren went to Soltryce Academy and that's when he met Trent Ikithon." Jester wrote Soltryce on a slip of paper and added it to the board.

Nott connected yarn from Trent to Soltryce. "And then Bren graduated and made Ermendrud Industries a success."

"Ikithon stuck around as a mentor and advisor," Jester said. "So people were probably used to having him be around and stuff."

"And then Bren's parents died," Nott said. "And you heard Caleb, he blames himself for their deaths. Ikithon must have taken advantage of that and put Bren in the asylum and just ran the business."

Jester nodded. "Yeah, and and he was acting like Bren was giving him instructions. And at first he was acting like Bren with the instructions, but he got more confident as time went along and started doing more bold and underhanded things and stuff. But then he faked Bren's death."

Nott pulled out a notebook and flipped through it. "I'm not sure on that. Let me check. Ah! No, first Bren woke up and was Caleb. And then Caleb ran away. It was after that that Ikithon announced Bren's death."

Jester jumped up. "Oh! That's why he faked his death. Because Bren was no longer where Ikithon left him. So he just said that Bren was dead so if he turned up he could just say it was some imposter or something."

"Right! Fast forward a few years and Caleb hires us and we solve the case!" Nott said. She laughed. "We solved the case!"

Jester nodded at Nott. "Yeah! We did!" And there was the Jester that Nott knew and loved.

* * *

There was a fire in a garbage can. Caleb watched it from a distance. It was bright and not too high. It would keep him warm, but Caleb knew with how he was feeling, he'd probably just stick his hand in to catch something on fire. He never trusted himself when he was in that sort of mood.

His mind kept wandering over to Jester and Nott and wondering how they were. Caleb liked to believe that he was capable of letting go of the past, but really that was a lie. Everything in him was tied to the past and he hated it with everything in him. He hated it almost as much as he hated himself.

* * *

“We have to find Caleb,” Jester said.

“I know that, but we’ve been looking everywhere,” Nott said.

Jester knew of one place they hadn’t checked, but the thought of going back there made her stomach. “I have an idea.”

* * *

Caleb found him staring at the burned out lot. He knew he shouldn’t come back there, but something about it drew him there. Maybe it was guilt.

Someone stepped up next to him, Jester. “Hi,” she said softly. Caleb was tempted to run, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Nott and I missed you.”

“Ah,” he said not knowing what he should do.

“We found out something big about the case,” Jester said.

“A big game changer,” Nott said on Caleb’s other side.

Caleb had nearly forgotten about the case. Not truly but it no longer was his only all consuming thought. “Ja? And what is that?”

“Bren isn’t dead,” Nott said.

Caleb took a step back. “What? That can’t be possible.”

Jester shook her head but without her usual exuberance. “It is. Bren’s still alive.”

“Then where is he?” Caleb demanded.

“He’s standing right here,” Jester said. “Caleb, you’re Bren Aldric Ermendrud.”

* * *

Bren was hard at work and biting back the temptation to groan out loud when a knock came at his door. "I thought I had requested no interruptions."

"Oh, so you don't have time for our lunch after all?" a familiar voice asked. Bren looked up to see his favorite old professor, Trent Ikithon.

"Oh, Professor Ikithon," Bren said with a touch of a blush. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be here so early."

"My class got out early," Professor Ikithon said, "and I decided to take advantage of it,"

Bren laughed. "You're the professor, you control when the lecture is over. You really shouldn't have cut it short for my sake."

"Trust me, none of the students were listening. My time is better spent with my favorite former student."

Another blush crept over Bren's cheeks. "You're joking."

"Not at all. You have a mind for business that I haven't seen anything like it." Professor Ikithon held the door open. "Come along. There's a new Marquessian restaurant that I’ve been hearing rave reviews about."

Bren saved his work and jumped up. "Oh of course." He knew his stomach wouldn't be happy with him for agreeing to eat Marquessain food, but he wasn't going to bring that up to Professor Ikithon.

"Tell me, have you given what I mentioned to you any thought?" Professor Ikithon said as they entered the elevator.

"What you mentioned- Oh! You mean having a will?" It seemed silly to have one at Bren's age, but Professor Ikithon had brought up some very good points. "I've been thinking about it. I'm going to sign the paperwork next week."

"Who will be running the company in the worst case scenario?" Professor Ikithon asked.

The elevator door dinged open at the first floor. "Ermendrud Industries will go back to my parents. It only makes sense."

"Of course," Professor Ikithon said. "And what if something happens to them?"

Bren rubbed the back of his neck. "I was meaning to ask you. Would you mind running Ermendrud Industries if anything were to happen to my family? I know you're busy with your lessons and expanding the minds of the bright future, but there's no one I trust more than you."

Professor Ikithon placed his hand over his heart. "I would be honored."

"Thank you," Bren said. He felt weird asking Professor Ikithon to take over for him, but there really was no one else that he could trust as much. Professor Ikithon was the one who made Bren the professional businessman he was.

Once they got outside, Bren found his hand pulling out his matchbook. “Really, Bren?” Professor Ikithon said his voice dripping with accusation. “I thought you’ve outgrown that.”

Bren flicked a match watching the fire spark alive and flinched. “Ja, ja, I know. It’s just a nervous habit. And it’s not like I don’t make sure they’re all out.”

“Doesn’t make it any less dangerous. You’re going to burn your house down one day.”

Bren winced. “It’s never going to come to that. I’m careful. I’m not going to burn down the house.”

“Speaking of which, are you still at your parents’ home?” Professor Ikithon asked.

“Ja, but I’ve been looking for a place of my own,” Bren hastily added. “It’s just taking me some time to find the right place.” And it wasn’t like he was being a layabout. He paid off his parents’ mortgage and paid rent though they tried to refuse it half the time. If Bren was being honest, he loved his parents and enjoyed being close to them.

Professor Ikithon shook his head. “A young man your age should be on his own by now. You need to go out and explore the world.”

“I know, these things just take time. But I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Excellent.”Professor Ikithon clapped Bren hard on the shoulder nearly making him trip. “Here’s the restaurant I was telling you about.” Just the smell made Bren’s stomach cramp up, but he just had to remind himself that it was worth it to spend time with his favorite professor.

* * *

"Professor Ikithon?" Bren answered the phone. "I'm surprised to hear from you. Isn't it finals week?"

"Can't an old man take a break from the tedium of essay grading to talk to an old friend?" Professor Ikithon asked.

Bren laughed. "You're not that old yet. You still got a good handful of years left."

"A good handful. Such faith warms my heart. Still hard at work?"

"Ja, ja," Bren said. "There's a labor dispute going on in one of our subdivision's factories, and I'm trying to find a resolution to it."

Professor Ikithon sniffed. "Just fire them all."

“I know I should probably just do that, but our investors asked me to look into a compromise first.”

“And by investors you mean Una and Leofric Ermendrud.”

Bren shrugged. “Ja, but they do have a stake in the company so I have to adhere to their wishes to some extent.”

“You’re a grown man and the head of this company, Bren,” Professor Ikithon said. “You should act like it.”

“Like you’ve never had to cater to board members,” Bren said.

Professor Ikithon chortled. “Hardly. The key is to make them think that your idea is really their idea.”

“You’ve never tried that with my mother. When she makes up her mind, she’s a rock. Now, why have you called?”

“Do I really need a reason to call?” Professor Ikithon asked.

Bren stretched. “No, but you usually have something to discuss.”

“That’s fair. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you aren’t working too hard.”

“You have nothing to worry about there,” Bren said. “I can take care of myself.”

“Really? Cause I remember a certain student forsaking sleep to study for three days and ended up throwing all of his textbooks out of the window cackling,” Professor Ikthon said with a hint of amusement.

Bren’s face turned hot red. “That was years ago. I’ve matured since then.”

“Still, you’re not planning on working tonight, are you?”

“Nein, I’m going home tonight at a decent time for your information.”

“That’s good to hear my boy,” Professor Ikithon said. “Now tell me more about this labor dispute.”

* * *

Later that day, Bren was outside hidden behind the house. The match hissed as he lit it. He had told his parents that he stopped this silly habit years ago and that he had matured beyond it. And yet there he was watching matches burn up. Logically, he knew that he should just stop and go inside, but instead he kept reaching for one more match. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

“Halo?”

“Bren!” It was Eodwulf. “Bren! You should come over! We’re all at the Leaky Tap!”

Bren held his phone away from his ear. “Eodwulf, you are drunk.”

“Yeah! But you should come over!” Eodwulf was, unfortunately for Bren, a loud drunk.

“And why should I do that?”

“Cause Astrid’s here!” Eodwulf yelled even louder.

Bren tried to fight down a blush at his old flame’s name, but it was no use. “She is? When did she get back in town?”

“This afternoon! You gotta come over!”

Bren looked back at the house. His parents were already asleep and it wasn’t like he was a teenager. Besides, Professor Ikithon told him that now was the time to explore the world and surely this counted. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

“‘Eyyyyyyy! Bren’s not being a wuss! He’ll be here!” Eodwulf shouted at somebody in the bar.

Bren hung up the phone before Eodwulf could yell at him more. He hurriedly stomped at his last match and headed off to the bar.

* * *

For Bren, it was a wild night, but Eodwulf kept telling him that it was actually pretty tame for a Friday. Eodwulf and Astrid kept Bren upright between the two of him since the sidewalk kept shifting beneath him(Though really it was just Eodwulf keeping Bren up). “Still a lightweight,” Astrid laughed. Bren tried to argue with her, but nothing came to mind except for how pretty she was, so he told her that instead.

“A regular casanova!” Eodwulf barked making Bren wince.

Bren smelt it before he saw anything. The comforting smell of a fire, but as he got closer to it, the air was filling horns and sirens. “Ennh,” he groaned.

“Cripes, that’s loud!” Eodwulf shouted. The irony was most likely lost on him.

“You’ll be home soon enough.” Astrid gently rubbed Bren’s back.

The sirens got louder the closer they got to O’Brien Avenue. A nauseous feeling of dread filled Bren’s stomach, but that might’ve just been the beer. And the fire trucks were on his street.

Bren broke away from Eodwulf and Astrid and ran ahead of them. He had to know, he had to be sure. There was no way it could be his house; he put out the match, he was sure that he had.

But there was fire where his parents’ home was supposed to be. Bren searched the crowd, but he couldn’t find his parents. That’s when he heard the screams coming from the house.He made a dash for the house, but someone held him back. “They’re still in there!” Bren pled. “Can’t you hear them? They’re still alive!”

“No one’s in there,” Eodwulf said. “It’s more fire than house.”

“Can’t you hear them?!”

“Bren.” Astrid grabbed his arm. “It’s too late.”

The screaming kept going on while Bren struggled to escape from his friends. And then, the screams stopped. And Bren’s screaming started.

* * *

Caleb vomited into a trash can. Jester wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign. He hadn’t ran away, so that was good at least. “Are, are you okay?” Nott asked. More puking. Nott tried to pull his hair out of his face, but she was too short to, so Jester took care of it.

“Ja,” Caleb said his head still in the garbage can.

“Are you all done puking?” Jester asked.

Caleb pulled his head out. “Ja, I think so.” He sighed and wiped off his mouth. “It’s a lot to think about.”

“So, do you believe us?” Nott asked nervously.

Caleb nodded. “I remembered things. From the last few weeks of being Bren. But this doesn’t explain everything.”

“It totally explains everything,” Jester said. “Okay, so the guy from the funeral home called and he said that there was no body for Bren. So we figured out that Bren’s death was faked. So when Bren, you, disappeared from the limelight in the first place, it was Ikithon hiding you some place and pretending to be taking your instructions.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” He sat down on the ground. “I trusted him. Ikithon. He was my mentor. He wouldn’t get rid of me just to take over the company. The night my parents died, I … went mad. It was my fault. I was playing with matches like a foolish child and they paid for it. And I couldn’t take the guilt. Ikithon took over because I was in a mental hospital, and he probably just wanted to save my dignity by telling no one about it. That’s all.”

Jester frowned. “It doesn’t explain why he claimed that you died after you ran away. That’s super shady.”

“He must have had his reasons,” Caleb said. “There’s got to be a reason.”

Jester raised an eyebrow at this. “But you said that Ikithon is dangerous.”

“He is when people get in his way, but I wasn’t. Professor Ikithon was my friend.” Caleb looked nervous and uncertain.

“What I don’t get is why Ikithon took over the company? I mean, I looked it up he wasn’t involved with the company until you were in the mental ward and he took over,” Nott said.

“I had a will, both for my death and if I was in a coma or something,” Caleb said.

“Or if you went insane?” Jester asked.

Caleb winced. “Ja, or that. Ikithon was to take over if anything were to happen to me and if my parents were unable to. He’s got a good head for business. I’ve known him since I was at Soltryce. Professor Ikithon is a trustworthy man.”

“But why would you make your professor your heir?” Nott asked.

Jester nodded. “Yeah, he’s like super old and practically dead.”

“He - he had told me that it’s better to be prepared for the unexpected rather than to leave the company in uncertain times if the worst case scenario happened.” Caleb paused. “I signed the paperwork a week before the fire.”

“Oh, Caleb,” Nott muttered.

“It’s not like that.” Caleb got up. “He hadn’t asked me to give it to him, he just told me to make sure it was in good hands that I trusted.”

Jester hated the idea of making Caleb uncomfortable but they had to see this through. “And did he know how much you trusted him? Was this a known thing?”

Caleb rubbed his chin. “Maybe, I don’t remember.” But he paused and ducked his head down. “Everyone would joke that I would go to class naked if Professor Ikithon told me to. I think he heard about that joke too. But, but.” Tears started going down his face. “He wouldn’t have just used me would’ve he?”

“Oh, Caleb,” Nott said again. “It’s not your fault. Like I said before everyone’s made bad choices involving men at least once in their lives.”

“Um, should we still be calling you Caleb?” Jester asked. “Or do you prefer Bren?”

“Caleb’s fine. Bren doesn’t feel real yet.”

Jester’s text alert went off just as she was about to say something more. It was Fjord. -Found fire file. It was arson, but was wierd-

-weerd how?- Jester looked up from her phone. “Sorry this is really important to the case.”

Nott looked over her shoulder. “Is that Fjord? Why’s he texting you? Is he finally manning up?”

Jester pushed Nott away. “It’s for the case. That’s all. He’s checking to see if the house burned because of arson.”

“But why wouldn’t it be arson?” Caleb asked. “I burned the house. It was my fault whether or not it was on purpose.”

Jester stared at the phone tempted not to tell him Fjord’s confirmation that it was indeed arson, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie to Caleb. “It was arson.”

A wave of pain crossed Caleb’s face. “Thank you It’s better to not cling to false hope.”

Jester’s phone buzzed again. -there was too spots of fire. One that had a lot of fires started and put out probably few hours before big fire, but on other side of house this fire started. weird-

-THNX fjord!!- Jester texted back in a flash. “Hey, hey Caleb did you have more than one place you played with matches?”

Caleb shook his head. “Nein. I’d only do it at the corner of the house. I’d always put them out carefully, but that time I didn’t.”

“No, I think you did.” Jester past him her phone. He read it quickly.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Caleb’s brow was furrowed. “I was at the corner of the house not the side.”

Nott’s eyes widened with comprehension. “So you didn’t start the fire. Someone else did!”

Caleb was shaking his head. “But, who would do that?”

The buzzing of Jester’s phone interrupted them. -that’s not all. They caught guy that did it. Cereal arsonist. Claims he was paid but couldnt prove-

Jester swore out loud.”Guys, guys! They caught the guy who did it!”

“But why wasn’t it announced?” Nott asked. “Wouldn’t that be in the papers?”

Jester relayed the question to Fjord. After a moment he replied with -donation to fire department and police ws made. annnonymous didnt want drama of case to continue-

Caleb frowned and had a cute look of confusion. “But, why would someone pay to cover up that the arsonist was caught or pay them in the first place?”

“Who would stand to gain the most?” Nott asked gently.

“He asked me if I would be home that night. He knew about my nervous habit. But I left unexpectedly. He thought I was there.” Caleb froze. “He thought I was there. Professor Ikithon wanted me to die in the fire.” He looked absolutely miserable.

“Do you need to puke again?” Jester asked. “We won’t judge you if you do.”

Caleb just shook.

Nott gently wrapped him in a hug and whispered something to him.

“So what are we going to do now?” Jester asked herself more than anyone else. “I mean we basically know that Ikithon killed Caleb’s parents and faked his death. How do we prove it?”

“I’m the proof.” Caleb stood ram rad straight and was kind of inspiring looking.

Nott looked up at him. “Are you sure that you’re up to it?”

“Probably not, but I’m willing to try. We probably won’t be able to prove that he killed my parents, but if anything we can prove that I’m still alive and get my company out of his hands,” Caleb said.

“And how are we going to do that?” Nott asked.

Jester smiled. “I have a plan.”

* * *

There were too many people in the room for Caleb’s comfort. It was only half full and set up for 200 people, but that was still far too many. He still didn’t know how Jester and Nott managed to get 3 passes to the Ermendrud Industries Press Conference and to be honest he didn’t want to ask. The worst part was how familiar and unfamiliar every thing was there. Caleb could identify each and every change from the last 16 years, but even the unchanged felt off and foreign.

Jester nudged Caleb with her shoulder. “Are you ready?”

“Not really, but I’ll have to be,” Caleb said. He was used to wearing layers, but they had covered him up even more than usual.

“You’ll be great,” Nott said.

There was a murmur throughout the crowd as Professor Ikithon approached the podium. Behind him stood Eodwulf. Caleb fought back a flinch at seeing his old friend. It hurt to see Eodwulf there, but it wasn’t surprising. Eodwulf was clever enough to know a smart bet when he saw one.

As Professor Ikithon began to speak, panic filled Caleb. This was a terrible idea and all he wanted to do was run away as fast as possible, but both Jester and Nott had a hand on his arms. He took a breath. They were going to be with him on this no matter what.

It was a pretty standard press conference announcing some new expansion and merger. Professor Ikithon always did love the sound of his own voice. Soon it was time for the press to ask questions. The urge to run doubled in Caleb, but he in was in too deep to turn back now. He stood up and the mic was passed to him. Caleb took off his scarf before asking, “Uh, ja, Mister Ikithon.” And there was a twitch to Professor Ikithon’s mouth. “How would you think Bren Aldric Ermendrud, your predecessor, would react to this hostile takeover?”

“I would hardly call this a hostile takeover. Ir is merely business,” Ikithon said. “But I believe that Ermendrud Industries has the same trajectory that it would with him at the helm.”

“But, Mister Ikithon, if you compare how the company is being run now to how it was being ran before Bren’s absence, you’ll note a noticeable discrepancy in tactics, especially when it comes to labor disputes, lay offs, and acquisitions.” Caleb removed coat and gloves. Jester and Nott had wanted him to wear sunglasses as well, but security wouldn’t let him through with them on. “I believe that he would not be pleased with this at all.” Ikithon muttered something to an assistant and security was on the move. Honestly, Caleb was surprised that he let him go that far. “Especially if I had the chance to explore the world, Professor Ikithon. “ He removed his hat, revealing his bright red hair.

Professor Ikithon turned a chalky shade of pale. "Remove that man immediately!" A security guard grabbed Caleb by the arm. Caleb knew that security was certain to be called on them, but Jester glared angrily at the guard anyways.

"Freedom of the press!" Jester yelled. "This is going against freedom of the press!" But the guard kept dragging Caleb away.

It was all too much, and Caleb found his fingers aching for a match when his eyes met Eodwulf's. Eodwulf stared at him frozen. Caleb couldn't hear him but he was mouthing something. As Caleb was dragged to the door, Eodwulf snapped out of if and nudged Professor Ikithon away from the podium. "Let go of him! Bring him back here."

Once he was up at the front, Eodwulf examined Caleb carefully making Caleb feel like a prized horse. "It's really you, isn't it?" Eodwulf asked softly.

"Ja," Caleb replied looking away. "At least I think so."

Suddenly, Eodwulf wrapped Caleb in a tight hug. "I thought you were dead. And a hermit before that. Where were you?"

Cameras were flashing around and a confused murmur filled the air.

"Who is that?" a practically loud reporter asked.

"That's the one and only Bren Aldric Ermendrud!" Jester announced and all pandemonium broke loose.

"He's dead!"

"Really, Bren, where were you?" Eodwulff asked. "Trent said that you needed time to yourself to get better."

Caleb snorted. "If by time by myself, you mean an insane asylum then you're right."

Professor Ikithon pulled them away from the podium. Or it was more like Eodwulf allowed him to guide them away(Eodwulf was still as enormous as Caleb had remembered). "This man is clearly an imposter!"

"Do you still have the appendicitis scar?" Eodwulf asked.

Caleb pulled up his shirt and tried to ignore the mutter of concern at how skinny he was. "Ja."

"That proves nothing!" Ikithon said.

“Trent,” Eodwulf said emphatically. “This is Bren. Don’t you recognize him?”

“Bren died years ago.”

Caleb turned on Professor Ikithon. "True I can’t prove that I’m Bren or still alive, but there's a lot of things that can be proven, including the fact that you locked me up in a psychiatric ward and faked my death. It can even be proven that you started the fire that took my parents' lives." That last one may have been an exaggeration, but there was a good chance of Ikithon implicating himself somehow.

Professor Ikithon stared at him and then laughed calling his bluff. "You poor boy, you must be mistaken. You are not Bren Aldric and I didn't start any fires."

"He hired someone else to do it," Nott shouted. “The man who was caught said they were hired.”

“Caught?” Eodwulf was the picture of confusion. “But, the authorities said they couldn’t find the cause of the fire.”

Professor Ikithon glared at Nott. "Security! Get them out of here!"

“Ja, it would be easier for all these journalists to interview me outside,” Caleb said. “You won’t have a lot of time to for damage control. They’re sure to find out quickly if I’m lying or not. And if you try to kill me again, well, suspicion has already been aroused.” Caleb dropped his voice so that only Professor Ikithon could hear him. Every instinct in Caleb told him to run. That this was suicide. He just told the man that ordered his parents' deaths to kill him. And yet Caleb just stood there standing his ground.

"You!" Professor Ikithon cursed. But, now he was no longer the legend that Caleb painted in his mind, but an old man. "I should've smothered you when I had the chance in the psych ward."

Caleb sagged. "I really had hoped that you weren't behind the fire. That you didn't want me dead. I had hoped that it was just a conspiracy theory."

Professor Ikithon smirked. "You'd been a thorn in my side for years, but no one's going to believe you about anything. You went mad, that wasn't a lie. You're never going to find proof of any of it and no one's going to help you."

Caleb looked over at Nott and Jester who were swarmed with reporters. "I've already gotten the help I needed. Now if you'll excuse me." He broke away from Ikithon and pulled Jester's phone out of his pocket and turned off the record feature. The podium was intimidating but it had to be done. Holding the phone up to the mic he pressed play and the whole room heard Ikithon's confession. It was funny how deathly pale Ikithon could turn.

Security no longer knew who to go after. Reporters were shouting out questions at Caleb and he just stood there for a moment. He hadn't thought of what to do after getting a confession from Ikithon. "Ummm, you may address all questions to Eodwulf. He's been with the company for longer than I have." Caleb then stepped down and into the hallway and into an empty room. Taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to have a nervous breakdown.

The doors flew open though and Jester and Nott rushed in. "YOU DID IT!" they shouted. Enormous smiles were pasted over their faces and he couldn't help but smile too.

"Ja?" Caleb said. "It happened."

"There's probably going to be a huge investigation and everything," Jester said.

"Ja."

Nott clapped his shoulder. "You're going to bet your company back."

"Ja."

"So what are you going to do now?" Jester asked.

"I have no clue," Caleb said.

* * *

A month later and Jester and Nott were in their office screening through cases. They had so many prospective customers they couldn't even take them all. And Jester knew that was a good thing, but there was still something heavy resting in her stomach.

It had been nearly as long since they had last seen Caleb, or rather Bren. He had been taken away by a whirlwind of activity. DNA tests had proven that he really was Bren Aldric Ermendrud, and he was staying with his old friend Eodwulf for now.

The investigation on Trent Ikithon was still going, but he had been fired from Ermendrud Industries. It was decided that Caleb, Bren, wasn't ready to take his company back yet after his traumatic everything, so Eodwulf was running it for now. Jester felt like she and Nott had been written out of the story, but Nott wasn’t complaining.

"What do you think Caleb’s, Bren's, doing now?" Jester asked.

Nott shrugged. "Hard to say. Probably business things. I mean that's what heads of companies do."

"But, isn't Eodwulf in charge now. I mean Ikithon's gone, but Bren's not in charge yet," Jester said.

"Yeah, but he's going to be again eventually. He's very smart. He's going to be just fine."

"Nott?" Jester asked. "Do you miss Caleb?"

Nott got up and sat down next to Jester. "Yeah, I do too."

"Yeah. Do you think he'll ever visit us again?"

"Probably not. He's busy now, but we're busy too." Nott held up the book of phone messages.

Jester nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I mean I don’t miss him a lot a lot, just a little.”

A knock came at the door. “Erm, excuse me, this is Nott the Best Detective Agency, ja?” a familiar Zemnian accent asked.

Jester looked up to see Caleb - Bren standing at the door. She jumped up and nearly tripped over her own two feet. Bren - Caleb caught her and nearly fell over. “What are you doing here?” Jester asked.

“I have heard that you are the best detectives in town,” he said. He was much cleaner than Jester had ever seen him before and his hair shined now. There was still an oversized coat, but this one wasn’t older than Jester. “Well, that and Frumpkin missed you.” Caleb, Bren, opened his coat to reveal Frumpkin.

“Frumpkin!” Jester shouted before petting him.

“How are you Caleb - Bren?” Nott asked.

A tired smile crossed his face. “Call me Caleb. It’s weird to hear you two call me Bren. It still feels like you’re talking to someone else.” He looked around the office. “And I’m … not okay yet. But I’m going to a therapist. And I need your help again."

"You do?" Nott and Jester said in unison.

Caleb nodded. "Ja. There's a case I need your help with. There's rumors of corporate espionage, and I was hoping that you'd get to the bottom of it. I can pay you better up front now."

Jester deflated. It was fun and exciting that Caleb had another case for them, but she had hoped that he wanted to see them again because they were friends, but maybe it was just Jester and Nott that saw them as friends. "Oh, right."

"I was thinking I could help you again if that was alright. I know the workings of the company and could get you the inside scoop? And, well, you haven't made Frumpkin fall in love with you yet, and you promised that you were going to become good friends with him. He can use all the friends he can get," Caleb said his cheeks a bright red.

"Oh, oh you're right! And Frumpkin's totally been missing out on me and Nott!" Jester said. "And you know, Caleb, if you want to be friends too, you can totally be."

Caleb looked up nervously. "I can?"

Nott nodded exuberantly. "Yes, you really can. And if you want to you can crash on the couch here if you get tired."

Caleb laughed. For the first time, a real laugh. And it was worth waiting for. "Ja, I would like that very much."

"You know what?" Jester said. "So would we."

**Author's Note:**

> Twists, turns and surprises! The biggest surprise was that I didn't not make this a shipping fic(I was close).
> 
> My friends from discord really helped encourage me to flesh out this story and to write it, so thank you guys!
> 
> I hope you all liked this and had fun with this fic!


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